1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed label, a method and an apparatus for manufacturing printed labels, and a method and an apparatus for attaching printed labels, and more particularly to a printed label in which the number of layers of the label attached to an adherend such as various containers is reduced, and a method and an apparatus for attaching printed labels to predetermined adherends while manufacturing the printed labels in a series of process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, printed labels are known in which a predetermined printing is effected on a resin film and which can be attached to various adherends such as boxes. As a conventional structure of such a printed label, an arrangement is adopted in which an adhesive is provided on both surfaces of a base such as paper, a film, or the like, a release film is attached to the surface of the adhesive provided on one side, printing is effected on the surface of the adherend on the other side by an ink-jet printer, and a transparent lamination film is attached to that surface (e.g., Japanese Utility Model Publication Laid-Open No. 3-31776).
When the printed label is attached to an adherend, the release film on the side opposite to the printing side is released from the base, and the adhesive exposed to the surface is made to adhere to the adherend. Accordingly, since printed characters, codes, or the like are covered with the lamination film, it is possible to effectively avoid the print from becoming peeled off after the label is attached to the adherend. Hence, there is an advantage in that a display effect can be continued stably.
With the above-described printed label, however, in the state in which the label is attached to the adherend, the label has the base, the adhesive provided on both surfaces of the base, and the lamination film. Thus, there have been drawbacks in that the printed label as a whole is provided with a multilayered structure in which the number of component layers is four, and the number of steps of manufacturing the printed label unavoidably increases, leading to an increase in the cost of manufacturing the printed labels.
In addition, according to the above-described printed label having the multilayered structure, there is naturally a limit to making the thickness of the overall printed label thin. Accordingly, in the state in which the printed label is attached to an adherend, a fixed stepped portion is formed between the surface of the lamination film and the surface of the adherend where the label is not attached. As a result, there is a drawback in that the printed label is liable to be peeled off due to the adhering strength of the adhesive.